1st Trip to Appleton, WI

February 8, 2009 – The kids and I joined Andy for a trip to Appleton, WI for the first time. It was nice to see the area that we will be moving to. We spent the day driving around to all the little towns and deciding which towns we liked and which towns we definitely don’t want to move to. There are several paper mills along the river and we decided we didn’t want to be near them because of the smell. We did go through one house in Greenville, WI that was beautiful but a little out of our price range.
I was finally able to see where Andy works and see the products that Vande Hey Raleigh manufactures. This is the most challenging position that Andy has ever had but I know that he will success and do great!

Andy and the kids at his desk in his office.

Noah at Daddy's desk.

The kids were tired of being in the car so we went to Build-a-Bear in the mall. Andy and I built a bear for MaKayla before we were even pregnant with her. We never made it to Woodfield for Noah’s bear so we finally were able to complete his today. We carried on the tradition of writing a special note to him and putting it in his bear. MaKayla even added her own special touch to her brother's bear.

Here we are putting our note and heart in the bear.

MaKayla helped stuff "Hope" the bear.

Here is Noah with his "Hope" bear. There are many reasons why we named Noah’s bear “Hope”. We hoped to have another child. Noah gives us Hope. We Hope to be the best parents possible. We have Faith, Hope and Love!

Next, we took the kids to Chuckie Cheese. MaKayla had a blast! Most of the games were too big for her but they did have a section for smaller children.

To finish off the day, we went to the water park that was in the hotel. It was smaller but the perfect size for MaKayla. She had so much fun! She didn’t care that her teeth were chattering and that she was turning purple. We had to make her come out and give her a warm bath. Noah was not too trilled. I just dipped his toes in the water and he cried. I just wrapped him up in a towel and we sat and watched Andy and MaKayla play.

We had a very busy day and were all tired!

Learning, Playing & Growing!

February 6, 2009 – MaKayla created these Play-do creatures all by herself. She is learning things by leaps and bounds now. It is so amazing to watch and listen to her!

Daddy and his babies!

Noah and Ike are best pals

MaKayla dressed up with her Mr. Potato head.

February 5, 2009 – Noah is getting to be such a big boy! On this morning, he was sitting on my bed laughing at me while I was getting dressed.

January 21, 2009 – MaKayla gave me my first present all by herself. She wrapped up one of her bath toys in a wash cloth and said, “Happy Day to You Mommy a Present for You!” It was the sweetest thing! Of course, I loved it! This has now become a regular thing where we wrap up presents to each other with blankets and wash clothes.

January 18, 2009 – MaKayla’s hair is just starting to be long enough to put in to full piggy tails. Here she is checking out her new do.

2009 ABC Supply Co. Cruise

January 10-17, 2009 – Andy and I went on a much needed cruise. It was a company paid cruise for customers and managers who qualified. Andy had two customers quality for the trip so we went to make sure they had a good time. Let me tell you that is a tough job =). It was nice to have some time alone with my husband again. This is the first vacation that we have been on since our honeymoon in 2004.
January 12, 2009 – Our first stop was Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos. We spent most of the time scuba diving. We took a refresher course and then went out on a dive to a beautiful reef wall. We had a wonderful time and it was such a great experience. Here is a picture of Andy with our ship behind him.

Here is a picture of our ship from the beach as we walked to our boat to go scuba diving.

I just like this picture, I don't know why.

January 13, 2009 – Our second stop was Roadtown, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It was a beautiful place. We were hoping to go scuba diving but those plans fell through so we just went sight seeing and enjoyed our day relaxing, shopping, sitting in a dark pub after the lights went out and saving a baby chicken. Here is a picture of me as the boat is coming in through the channel to dock.

This is a picture of a marine cove that we went by. It was beautiful!

I have to tell this story. We were walking along and I kept hearing this little chirping. On the island, they have open drainage ditches next to the side walks. I look down and found a little baby chicken that was running around calling for its Mommy. I didn’t see any chickens around or a way for this little one to get out of the ditch on its own. I couldn’t just leave it. I was trying to help in while all these cars and people were going by staring at me. Andy was embarrassed and ready to leave me. After watching me struggle and making fun of me for quite some time Andy finally decided to save the chicken for me. Here are some of the pictures that I took. Thank you honey for saving the baby chicken for me! Here are three pictures of the saving.

January 14, 2009 – The third stop was at Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. There is a lot of shopping for the jewelry lovers on this island. I did spend a little time looking but for the most part we spent most of the day being rocked back and forth on a small broken down boat in the ocean and sea sick. We went on our second scuba diving adventure that we both regret. The diving conditions were less than desirable with high waves and low visibility. The diving equipment was not any better. I had a couple of panic attacks because I had a hard time breathing out of the mouth piece. You had to suck really hard to get oxygen. One of the dive masters ended up being a guy I went to high school with and was really nice and followed me down to the ocean floor of 85 feet. As soon as he found Andy and paired me back up with him I had a panic attack and felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was able to control myself and get back under control. When we got back to the surface and on the boat it was discovered that the boat wouldn’t start. We never ended up making our second dive. Everyone was just happy to get back to dry land after waiting for over two hours for another boat to come and get us and take us to shore.

After our bad diving experience, we quick showered and spent the last hour shopping on the island. Here is a lady hand rolling a Cuban filled cigar.

January 15, 2009 – We spent the day at sea and enjoying the boat. There was a lot of fun entertainment with the ABC Supply Co. karaoke being the highlight. Here is a picture of us at dinner with some of the customers.

Every night there was a new towel animal in our room waiting to greet us. My favorite was the monkey.

January 16, 2009 – Our last island of the trip was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. It is a private island paradise in the Caribbean. It has a beautiful white sand beach and unspoiled wild life preserve. This was the only day of the trip that was a little chilly and windy though which was unfortunate. We still did decide to go swimming with the sting rays. The water was warm but when we got out we were both cold. It was worth the little bit of cold. They are amazing creatures!

Here is a picture of me up against a boat in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

Here is a picture of us enjoying some time together on our last night

On our last evening on the ship, Andy took me to the back of the ship to show me the power and the beauty of the water and it churned up from behind the boat. We tried to imagine what it was like on that terrible night that the Titanic sank. We shared a special time talking. Then, he pulled out a glass that we both kissed and threw into the ocean to symbolize our love for each other. Some where at the bottom of the ocean is our glass. It is kind of neat to think about.

We couldn’t wait to get home and see our two babies! They were both so excited when we walked in the door. It is such an awesome feeling when you see your children’s eyes light up when they see you. MaKayla is helping Daddy unpack from the trip. She found his mask and snorkel and knew exactly what to do with it.

Here is a picture of the kids with their stuffed animals that we brought back for them.

Noah and Mommy spending some bonding time together.

Mr. Noah was all smiles! He learned some new tricks while we were away. He has started to squish up his nose and do this fast breathing thing. It was too cute to see when we returned home.

Noah's First 2 Teeth

January 8, 2009 – The night before Andy and I left on our trip I was spending some quality time with each of the kids. While I was giving Noah a bath I noticed that MaKayla was being very quite which every mother knows usually means trouble. Here is what I discovered once I hurried up and finished Noah’s bath. MaKayla and found the Vaseline jar in Noah’s room and was up on his changing table and had put it all over her face and in her hair. She said she was “putting on makeup”. I washed her hair 6x that night and couldn’t get it out.

January 6, 2009 – MaKayla ate a blue sucker and discovered that it turns her tongue blue. Now blue is her favorite sucker! She kept running in the bathroom to look at herself. I thought this was a cute picture.

January 7, 2009 – Here is a picture of Noah with his first two teeth. They actually broke through while we were at dinner “Up North” on January 3rd. Noah kept biting on Andy’s fingers and then all of a sudden Andy said that hurts and felt two little teeth.

"Up North" Fun!

Our annual after Christmas trip “Up North” is one of our favorite times of the year. It is a time of togetherness with family, relaxation, snowmobiling, hopefully lots of snow, card games, good food, falling asleep during the middle of late night movies, downtown shopping for the girls, the men smelling up the house and just good old fashioned fun times. Unfortunately this year, most of the family was not able to make it “Up North” due to a lot of unforeseen circumstances with sick family members and a diagnosis of breast cancer with my Step Mom. We were the only ones “Up North” for the first few days and then my Dad was able to join us for the last couple of days. It was sad not to have everyone there and took some getting used to having the cabin to our selves. We still had a wonderful time but it was definitely different.
December 30, 2008 – We went sledding at Lake Tomahawk. MaKayla is a little dare devil, she is not afraid of anything! She loved sledding with Daddy on the big hill. They even hit the jump on accident and she flew off the sled. When Andy got to her she said, “again Daddy”. Noah slept in the truck the whole time.

Talk about perfect timing with the camera. Here is Andy and MaKayla when the hit the jump on the hill.

Daddy, MaKayla and Noah at the sledding hill at Lake Tomahawk.
Andy bought a used sled with very low miles and is like a kid in the candy store in love with it. January 1, 2009 – MaKayla went on her first snowmobile ride on this trip and loved it! Actually her very first ride was the evening before when it was dark. Andy took her down to the park and she started pulling on his arms. He thought she was scared so he shut off the snowmobile. She wasn’t scared at all but was pointing to the stars in the sky and started singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Start”. The two of them just sat and shared a very special moment together that will always leave a cherished memory for Andy.

January 2, 2009 – My 33rd Birthday! It was a special day for me. My Dad and I went on a snowmobile ride just the two of us to the Wolf Pack. They have the best blueberry pancakes and I always look forward to eating there every time we come “Up North”. It has been several years since I have been sledding and I really enjoyed it. It was really nice to have some bonding time with my Dad! Thanks Dad for taking it slow for me!

My Step Mom made me a really yummy birthday cake and sent it up with my Dad. Thanks Bonnie for making my birthday special! MaKayla enjoyed helping me blow out the candles.We all went out for my birthday dinner at the White Tail Inn. Another one of my favorite places to eat. Andy, Dad, Bonnie and the kids all made my birthday extra special and I really appreciate it! Thank you!

The kids and I at my birthday dinnerJanuary 3, 2009 – Andy and MaKayla on another snowmobile ride. She was so cute, she would bring all of her snow gear to me and ask me to put it on her for her to “go on ride”.

January 4, 2009 – Our final day at the cabin. We had a great time and it was sad to leave. The time seemed to fly by as it always does when we are “Up North”. Hopefully next year the entire family will be able to able to come up. Before we left, I had to get some pictures of both of the kids in the snow. Noah spent most of the time in the car or indoors since he is too young to really enjoy the snow yet. We had to at least get him in the white stuff for a few minutes and he loved it!

MaKayla and Noah enjoying the last few minutes in the snow.

Our blue snow bunny!